Ellis sat still among the dead leaves. The knots of tree bark on her back began to dig into her spine, be she didn't dare move.
They continued to move through the undergrowth.
They can’t see me under the tall grass.
She prayed they couldn't see her.
“Over here,” Tristan exclaimed to the rest of the group, “I see two signatures on screen pretty clearly.” He stopped for a second while the rest of the group moved out in a fan. He didn’t understand. That surely looked like the form of a person. Infrared wasn’t always extremely accurate but this was clear as day. The form that looked like a doe bedded in the reeds next to the other stirred.
Ellis put a hand on the young fawn right below its shoulder blade. It settled and Ellis tried to calm it further with a gentle pressure. The respirator was slung around her neck and she tried to move it up slowly with one hand. She could feel how tense the fawn’s muscles were, ready to bolt from its hiding place. Ellis knew it was staying under her instruction, it trusted her like a mother.
“What ya got on dere boy?” A man on Tristan’s right said with a grunt, peering amongst the grasses. Now a few feet closer he could see exactly what it was, and he was right. It looked like… a person nestled against a tree, a doe bedded by her side. Perfectly still. He stopped. Pulling his head up from the green gridded screen he locked eyes with her as the soft winds broke a gap between the grasses. Her terrified blue eyes covered a second later by a hand and a mask. The gap in the grass closed and they were separated again.
The image stuck in his head. That face was of a girl much younger than himself. What was she doing out here among the wastes and the hunting grounds. What was she doing so far from the Fertility Tribe, there is no way she traveled all this way by herself.
“Boy.”
Maybe, maybe she wasn’t from there. Why would she be hidden all the way-
“Boy! What chu got!”
Tristan hesitated for only a moment. “Thought I saw a form, it seems it was just another irradiated tree.”
The grasses parted with the wind again and a black gas mask stared at him from under a brown patch quilt hood.
“Best not come over this way.” He stated and turned back to the group.
The gnarled man turned back to Tristan and slung his rifle over his shoulder. Two of the other men followed suit. Spitting on the ground he grunted again, “Why don’t ya just call back to the hall with your fancy shamcy tele communicate thing there.” He spit again. “Let ‘em know we’re comin in.” Then he turned his back to the setting sun and began to walk off. The other men followed suit. Glancing once more back to the knotted and gnarled tree branching out over the grasping weeds Tristan followed the hunting party back home.
It was dark now with the sun just lighting the edge of the horizon with an orange glow. Under the mask Ellis gasped as if she hadn’t taken a breath in days. She began to sob.
I shouldn’t have come out here.
She fell into the fawn by her side and it nestled up against her. Tears clouded the rubber ring of the gas mask under her eyes. She could taste the salt as they ran down past her nose and to the sides of her mouth. After a while she got up and peered over the grass and could only see the dark blue horizon. The fawn bent its legs and Ellis clambered up, still stiff from hiding amongst the brush for so long. They ran back at a clip faster than usual. She could see the hulking form of the Correction institute in the distance. She shuddered as she remembered being curious enough to go there last year. Today was worse than that mistake. Today she could have been seen by those that might see her dead. But the tall boy with the odd glasses saw her. She knows he did, there is no way he couldn’t have. She looked up to the sky and closed her eyes to thank him.
They passed through a place that made Ellis awfully uneasy. The Rust Park. Should would have avoided it especially on a night as eventful as tonight, but she needed to be back before the house started to worry. If her hammock was empty all night they would ask questions. Ellis could never tell them what happened tonight or else she would never be let to roam ever again. She couldn’t have that. That is no way to live all cooped up like that.
I just will be more careful from now on.
She called it the rust park because she couldn’t pronounce its rusted name on the battered old sign above the main entrance. Back when people threw out all sorts of good things like half used cars and perfectly good bikes they would dump them here to rust. Perhaps it was for the people now to use. All sorts of useful things in one big pile. Some of the clans practically worshipped the place, picking through it like a gold mind of twisted metal. From what she overheard it seemed the Technician Tribe had a grasp on scavenging the Park frequently and knew exactly what was useful. Their minds worked like clockwork, finding the perfect puzzle piece they needed.
She entered under the cockeyed sign and took the path she understood through its maze. She stayed towards the left side of the Rust Park so that she could keep track of her trail along the outer perimeter. She thought about the boy. With that odd contraption in his hands. A jumble of bits and bobs. Much like the pieces that lay around her on the ground of the junkyard. She wondered if he has come here before. Maybe he is even part of the Technicians. She wanted to know a lot of things.
They continued to move through the undergrowth.
They can’t see me under the tall grass.
She prayed they couldn't see her.
“Over here,” Tristan exclaimed to the rest of the group, “I see two signatures on screen pretty clearly.”
He stopped for a second while the rest of the group moved out in a fan. He didn’t understand. That surely looked like the form of a person. Infrared wasn’t always extremely accurate but this was clear as day. The form that looked like a doe bedded in the reeds next to the other stirred.
Ellis put a hand on the young fawn right below its shoulder blade. It settled and Ellis tried to calm it further with a gentle pressure. The respirator was slung around her neck and she tried to move it up slowly with one hand. She could feel how tense the fawn’s muscles were, ready to bolt from its hiding place. Ellis knew it was staying under her instruction, it trusted her like a mother.
“What ya got on dere boy?” A man on Tristan’s right said with a grunt, peering amongst the grasses.
Now a few feet closer he could see exactly what it was, and he was right. It looked like… a person nestled against a tree, a doe bedded by her side. Perfectly still. He stopped. Pulling his head up from the green gridded screen he locked eyes with her as the soft winds broke a gap between the grasses. Her terrified blue eyes covered a second later by a hand and a mask. The gap in the grass closed and they were separated again.
The image stuck in his head. That face was of a girl much younger than himself. What was she doing out here among the wastes and the hunting grounds. What was she doing so far from the Fertility Tribe, there is no way she traveled all this way by herself.
“Boy.”
Maybe, maybe she wasn’t from there. Why would she be hidden all the way-
“Boy! What chu got!”
Tristan hesitated for only a moment. “Thought I saw a form, it seems it was just another irradiated tree.”
The grasses parted with the wind again and a black gas mask stared at him from under a brown patch quilt hood.
“Best not come over this way.” He stated and turned back to the group.
The gnarled man turned back to Tristan and slung his rifle over his shoulder. Two of the other men followed suit. Spitting on the ground he grunted again, “Why don’t ya just call back to the hall with your fancy shamcy tele communicate thing there.” He spit again. “Let ‘em know we’re comin in.” Then he turned his back to the setting sun and began to walk off. The other men followed suit.
Glancing once more back to the knotted and gnarled tree branching out over the grasping weeds Tristan followed the hunting party back home.
It was dark now with the sun just lighting the edge of the horizon with an orange glow. Under the mask Ellis gasped as if she hadn’t taken a breath in days. She began to sob.
I shouldn’t have come out here.
She fell into the fawn by her side and it nestled up against her. Tears clouded the rubber ring of the gas mask under her eyes. She could taste the salt as they ran down past her nose and to the sides of her mouth.
After a while she got up and peered over the grass and could only see the dark blue horizon. The fawn bent its legs and Ellis clambered up, still stiff from hiding amongst the brush for so long. They ran back at a clip faster than usual. She could see the hulking form of the Correction institute in the distance. She shuddered as she remembered being curious enough to go there last year. Today was worse than that mistake. Today she could have been seen by those that might see her dead.
But the tall boy with the odd glasses saw her. She knows he did, there is no way he couldn’t have.
She looked up to the sky and closed her eyes to thank him.
They passed through a place that made Ellis awfully uneasy. The Rust Park. Should would have avoided it especially on a night as eventful as tonight, but she needed to be back before the house started to worry. If her hammock was empty all night they would ask questions. Ellis could never tell them what happened tonight or else she would never be let to roam ever again. She couldn’t have that. That is no way to live all cooped up like that.
I just will be more careful from now on.
She called it the rust park because she couldn’t pronounce its rusted name on the battered old sign above the main entrance. Back when people threw out all sorts of good things like half used cars and perfectly good bikes they would dump them here to rust. Perhaps it was for the people now to use. All sorts of useful things in one big pile. Some of the clans practically worshipped the place, picking through it like a gold mind of twisted metal. From what she overheard it seemed the Technician Tribe had a grasp on scavenging the Park frequently and knew exactly what was useful. Their minds worked like clockwork, finding the perfect puzzle piece they needed.
She entered under the cockeyed sign and took the path she understood through its maze. She stayed towards the left side of the Rust Park so that she could keep track of her trail along the outer perimeter.
She thought about the boy. With that odd contraption in his hands. A jumble of bits and bobs. Much like the pieces that lay around her on the ground of the junkyard. She wondered if he has come here before. Maybe he is even part of the Technicians. She wanted to know a lot of things.
I hope I never see them again.